In the bestselling tradition of Doctor Zhivago and Sophie`s Choice, a sweeping epic of Russia from the last days of the Tsars to today`s age of oligarchs -- by the prizewinning author of Young Stalin.Winter 1916: St. Petersburg, Russia, is on the brink of revolution. Outside the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls, an English governess is waiting for her young charge to be released from school. But so are the Tsar`s secret police...Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and their dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her part in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction.Twenty years on, Sashenka is married to a powerful, rising Red leader with whom she has two children. Around her people are disappearing, while in the secret world of the elite her own family is safe. But she`s about to embark on a forbidden love affair that will have devastating consequences.Sashenka`s story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin`s private archives and uncovers a heartbreaking tale of betrayal and redemption, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism -- and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice.
